The Effect of Regulatory Harmonization on Cross-border Labor Migration: Evidence from the Accounting Profession

Ulf Brüggemann, Matthew J. Bloomfield, Hans B. Christensen and Christian Leuz

VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy from Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association

Abstract: The paper examines the effect of international regulatory harmonization on cross-border labor migration. We analyze directives in the European Union (EU) that harmonized accounting and auditing standards. This regulatory harmonization should make it less costly for those who work in the accounting profession to move across countries. Our research design compares the cross-border migration of accounting professionals relative to tightly-matched other professionals before and after regulatory harmonization. We find that, on average, labor migration in the accounting profession increases relative to comparable professions by roughly 15% after harmonization. The findings illustrate that diversity in rules constitutes an important economic barrier to cross-border labor mobility and, more specifically, that accounting harmonization can have a meaningful effect on cross-border migration.

JEL-codes: J44 J61 K22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Effect of Regulatory Harmonization on Cross‐Border Labor Migration: Evidence from the Accounting Profession (2017)
Working Paper: The Effect of Regulatory Harmonization on Cross-border Labor Migration: Evidence from the Accounting Profession (2015)
Working Paper: The Effect of Regulatory Harmonization on Cross-border Labor Migration: Evidence from the Accounting Profession (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:vfsc15:112850

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